April 2gth, 1^02.1 PROCEEDINGS. xlv 



Mr. Frank F. Laidlaw, B.A., made a communication on 

 " The Peoples of Malacca," and illustrated his remarks by 

 a series of lantern slides. 



Noticing briefly the civilised inhabitants of the peninsula, 

 chiefly Malays, Chinese and European, special attention 

 was directed to a number of savage nomadic communities, 

 which inhabit the forest country of the interior for the 

 most part. Owing to intermarriage between the various 

 communities, as well as to the careless nomenclature employed 

 in speaking of them, it is difficult to classify them in 

 a satisfactory manner. In the northern half of the peninsula, 

 however, these savages exhibit almost universally negrito 

 characteristics, viz., curly (almost woolly) hair, very dark skins 

 and moderately long skulls (mesaticephalic) ; the nose also is 

 extremely wide and very flat. These negritos occur chiefly in 

 Kedah, Kelantan and Perak. They are known as -'Semang" 

 or " Pangan," and call themselves " Menik." Considerable inter- 

 mixture of negrito blood is also found in most of the savage 

 communities towards the south of the peninsula. Many 

 authorities believe that the southern wild tribes are derived from 

 an admixture of Malay and negrito blood, but the evidence 

 tends to show that in Perak, at least, there exists a second race 

 quite distinct from negrito or Malay — a dolichocephalic, 

 moderately fair-skinned race with wavy hair, possibly allied 

 to the Karens of Burmah. These people are known as 

 " Senoi," and most of our information concerning them is due 

 to Prof. Martin, of Zurich. Lastly, the people of Johor, 

 Selangor and Pahang, though showing traces of negrito and 

 perhaps of Senoi intermixture, are obviously of a mongoloid 

 stock. Like the other two groups, their stature is small 

 (average height of a full-grown man 4ft. gin., of a woman 4ft. 

 6^in.), but the hair is straight and the skull brachycephalic. 

 One branch of these tribes has taken to living on the sea, and 

 has spread on to some of the islands of the Johor Archipelago. 

 These are the " Orang Laut." Other tribes are the "Jakun" of 

 Johore, the " Besisi " of Selangor, and the " Mantras " found 



